Mastodawn

RD May 12, 2023

HOW DID WE GET HERE?
(a thread of threads, quotes, and links)

This is a collection of writings and research concerned with how we got where we are today, which is in fact the story of what has been done *to* us, and what has been *taken from us*.

By "us" we're talking about "the 99%", "workers", "wage slaves", all non-owners of private property, "the poor", unhoused people, indigenous people, even plenty of people who swear by capitalism and identify as "capitalist" yet have no capital of their own and no serious hope of ever having any worth speaking of. In other words almost everyone except for the very few who have had the power to exploit us and shape our lives to serve their agenda. We're going to examine institutions and concepts that have deeply altered our world at all levels, both our external and internal realities.

By "here" we are talking about climate crisis and myriad other environmental catastrophes resulting from hyper-excessive extraction, consumption and waste; a world of rampant inequality, exploitation and oppression, hunger and starvation, genocide and war; a world of fences, walls, gatekeepers, prisons, police, bullshit jobs and criminalized poverty; a world overrun with cars and preventable disease; a world of vanishing biodiversity and thriving fascism; a world where "democracy" results in being led by some of the worst of humanity; a world ruled by an imaginary but all-powerful and single-minded god: Capital.

Our inspiration and structural framework for this survey is this quote from "The Prehistory of Private Property", an important work from political philosopher Karl Widerquist and anthropologist Grant S. McCall:

"After hundreds of millennia in which all humans had direct access to the commons, it took only a few centuries for enclosure, colonialism, capitalism, and industrialization to cut off the vast majority of people on Earth from direct access to the means of economic production and therefore to rob them of the power to say no. It took only a few generations to convince most people that this situation was natural and inevitable. That false lesson needs to be unlearned."

https://widerquist.com/books-3/#2b

Also recommended: "Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy"

https://widerquist.com/books-3/#4b

#capitalism #colonialism #enclosure #PrivateProperty #state #police #inequality #anthropology #environment #ClimateCrisis #economics

1/30

RD May 12, 2023

A big part of this false lesson is the fantasized history that serves as its foundation; the stories we've been told and the assumptions we've been conditioned with.

To introduce us to "A new understanding of human history and the roots of inequality" here is the TED talk by archaeologist David Wengrow (link includes transcript):

https://www.ted.com/talks/david_wengrow_a_new_understanding_of_human_history_and_the_roots_of_inequality/transcript?language=en

2/30

David Wengrow: A new understanding of human history and the roots of inequality

TED

RD May 12, 2023

To explore this new understanding further here is a more detailed look at the stories we've been told and who has been telling them (this one is a longish read, dive in if you find it interesting, otherwise don't get bogged down here, move on to the next post!):

"How to change the course of human history (at least, the part that’s already happened)"
by anthropologist David Graeber and David Wengrow:

https://www.eurozine.com/change-course-human-history/

3/30

RD May 12, 2023

Understanding the state of things requires us to understand The State. Here's a crash course:

What Is The State? A helpful thread from @HeavenlyPossum
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/113034394722266469

The State, Our Ancient Enemy
https://www.thecommoner.org.uk/the-state-our-ancient-enemy/

The State as Sole Capitalist
https://archive.ph/7uRGy

Here is another aspect of state, and another example of accepted narratives that need to be questioned in light of actual evidence. It turns out we can probably thank state for #patriarchy:

How did patriarchy actually begin?
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230525-how-did-patriarchy-actually-begin

More info about roles of men and women in past societies:

Shattering the myth of men as hunters and women as gatherers
https://phys.org/news/2023-06-shattering-myth-men-hunters-women.html

Worldwide survey kills the myth of ‘Man the Hunter’
https://www.science.org/content/article/worldwide-survey-kills-myth-man-hunter

Iron Age DNA Reveals Women Dominated Pre-Roman Britain
https://www.sciencealert.com/iron-age-dna-reveals-women-dominated-pre-roman-britain

4/30

HeavenlyPossum (@[email protected])

Thread: What Is The State? I thought it would be a good idea to explain what I mean by “the state,” because quite a few people seem confused by this. Thought it is lengthy, I don’t mean for this to be a definitive statement, and I’m sure plenty of anarchists will disagree with some or many of my points. I also don’t mean for this to be a comprehensive discourse on state-ness, but rather a general statement about my personal perspective. 1/13

kolektiva.social

The State as enemy is a problematic narrative, because then what do you call it when people work together and cooperate? That's not a state? That is why state propaganda actively attacks the state, because if you avoid cooperation for fear of it being oppression, then the organized state can oppress you without anyone else interfering. It's not their business after all!

If you believe that a state is neccessarily an oppressive regime, then you can never form an egalitarian state, leaving you easy pickings for authoritarians.

>>...what do you call it when people work together and cooperate? That's not a state?<<

No, that's not what a state is. Did you read the linked article?
https://www.thecommoner.org.uk/the-state-our-ancient-enemy/

btw, there are a couple other essays that go along with that one:

Coercion: Fundamental to the Modern State
https://www.thecommoner.org.uk/coercion-fundamental-to-the-modern-state/

Ideology: Coercion's Spin Doctor
https://www.thecommoner.org.uk/ideology-coercions-spin-doctor/

The State, Our Ancient Enemy

The State, as a tool of ruling class rule, hasn't changed in 6,000 years, so why would it now?

The Commoner

I'm saying it's a bait and switch. Your words are being hijacked. Smash the state they say, destroy welfare. The state is making us weak! Destroy our ancient enemy, unions! Those are states! Invading our corporate family! Cripple corporate regulations, get the state out of our business. Free trade! Small state! Small state!

What's that? Stop doubling the size of the police force? Don't be silly. The state is not a state. It's a social contract of mutual benefit, agreed upon by our forefathers. No coercion involved!

See how they can twist your rhetoric? Don't oppose "the state." Oppose the problem. Oppose tyranny, bureaucracy, rent and debt.

>>Oppose tyranny, bureaucracy, rent and debt.<<

Opposing those things puts one in direct opposition to state 🤷‍♂️ I'm not going to beat around the bush about it.

I'm not going to stop using the word capitalism because incoherent ancaps like to misuse the word, ascribing nonsense definitions to it and fantasizing about capitalism without state.

I'm not going to stop explaining to liberals that there is no "social contract", police should be abolished, and our forefathers were patriarchal, genocidal, slave-owning, white supremacist greedy elites pulling this shit out of their asses and writing it down to solidify their power and justify their privilege and all their crimes against humanity.

I suggest you explore further the entire thread which the post you replied to came from, there are tons of empirical references in their to counter any rhetorical attacks.

Cy May 10, 2024

Opposing your definition of state is a good idea. Very similar things to your states exist though, that people are easily misled to think are bad too, undermining your goals. There are organizations, associations that can oppose things like rent and debt. Movements, even first nations that have made progress to ending colonialism and patriarchy. We can't fight this alone. We have to come together as communities, societies and friends, and show people there are other ways to live. They think your definition of state is the only way things can be, and the articles you provide agree it is the only way, even if they say it must be destroyed. I'm tired of apocalyptic prophecies.

Anarchists are not opposed to organizations, associations, communities, societies, or friends. We oppose hierarchical power structures, not voluntary associations. We are not opposed to organizing.

>>Very similar things to your states exist though, that people are easily misled to think are bad too, undermining your goals.<<

I don't think this is really a thing, or at least not a significant concern. Do you have any examples of this?

Of course if any of these things you're referring to really *are* similar to states (with strict hierarchy, elites, coercion, enclosure, exploitation, control, etc) then they *are* bad things.

Cy May 10, 2024

I'm referring to things like the post office, which has been stripped of funding because "state bad," and all that accomplished was us paying scummy delivery companies more to do the same thing.

HeavenlyPossum May 10, 2024

@cy @RD4Anarchy

The neoliberals who have starved public services of funds are not anti-state. They’re very much in favor of state violence that serves capital.

RD May 10, 2024

@HeavenlyPossum @cy

Exactly. This was about their vision of state, not a result of any anti-state movement.

Also, the post office is not anything remotely similar to a state. Those who gutted it weren't trying to eliminate a state-like structure, they just want that structure to be privatized.

HeavenlyPossum May 10, 2024

@cy @RD4Anarchy

Reminds me of Graeber’s point about abolishing the state and seeing what remains—what aspects of it people would truly want to sustain if free to choose. He suggested the NHS but the USPS is another good example of the sort of institution I could readily imagine free people running for themselves.

RD May 10, 2024

@HeavenlyPossum @cy

This example also comes to mind:

China's ancient water pipe networks show they were a communal effort with no evidence of a centralized state authority
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-china-ancient-pipe-networks-communal.html

China's ancient water pipe networks show they were a communal effort with no evidence of a centralized state authority

A system of ancient ceramic water pipes, the oldest ever unearthed in China, shows that neolithic people were capable of complex engineering feats without the need for a centralized state authority, finds a new study by University College London researchers.

HeavenlyPossum May 10, 2024

@cy @RD4Anarchy

Yeah, voluntary human cooperation (I can’t believe I have to say this) predates the state by, you know, 300,000 years or so.

Cy May 10, 2024

In theory free people do run it. There are just other people trying to stop those people and prevent it from being run freely. That's why I oppose tyranny, to have it where free people run things for each other. By the people, for the people, etc.

HeavenlyPossum May 10, 2024

No, in *pretense* free people run it, but in reality it is an arm of state bureaucracy and product of state violence.

Free people *could* run it, sure.

Cy May 10, 2024

that is what the bureaucracy claims, at least. They love appropriating nice things and telling us that that thing is their arm, and their product. I don't believe they are the post office though, or the library. They just want us to think they are.

HeavenlyPossum May 10, 2024

Right, and we don’t have to take their claims at face value.

There are many services the state has co-opted, but that doesn’t mean they’re somehow integral to the state. We could get rid of the state and still cooperate to send each other letters in the mail.

The sort of rhetoric you’ve expressed concern about is hardly anti-state. Right-wing discourse is often deeply hostile to the idea of the state doing anything that could empower the weak, but that’s not the same as being *anti-state.* Someone like Trump might want to defund the USPS for his own purposes and use rhetoric about small government and low taxes, but he’s not about to abolish, say, the cops—an institution that’s actually integral to the state.